Protective hat



April 27, 1943. G. H. DEIKE, JR

PROTECTIVE HAT Filed July 29, 1940 .i l l l ,1 llll l l ..1 fl.; 1 1

.MRW wrm/M ma muy E mi@ 0 FL G J/ m 5 has ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 27, 1943 FeG-il PROTECTIVE HAT George vH. -Deike, Jr., Wilkinsburg, Pa., assigner .to ll/lline .Safety .Appliances Company, 'Pittsburgh, Pa.

.Application July. 29, 194.0, Serial No. .348,265

7 claims.

.This invention relates to 1an improvement in Vtherccnstruction of a protective hat--such'as lworn by miners, remenand others engaged in hazardousoccupations, and more-particularly vtofan improved meansfor attaching a headeng-aging band to the protective headgear.

Heretofore, it has been `the practice to use =a cord-or iibrous strip bywhich the headband and 'the-crowncf the headgear are attached by actu- -ally threading .the cordthrough these elements. The principal disadvantage in the use -o'f such .a meanshas been the expense of assembly and pensive 'in 4manufacture and relatively simple in assembly of one portion of the hat to the other and which is capable of being removed without damage to either portion in the event that such 'should lbecome necessary.

It is Vanother object of this invention to ,provide .a mea-ns of attachment which is moisture resistant and adaptable to the many materials used in providing Vthe crown portion of the safety headgear and which 'is adaptable .to the manyavailable commercial types of hat without anymaterial increase in expense in the manufactureoi the assembled Yhat and which does `not require any `modification .in the .manufacture of the .presently used headband which ordinarily includes a .cradle .or .head harness for providing adequately distributed support over the head of a wearer.

Further objects @f this invention will become apparent from a description of one embodiment s .which sets forth. the principles involved-and which .is illustrated in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional View illustrating one embodiment of my improved means of attaching a .headband to one type-oi protective headgear;

Fig. .2 is a sectional View taken along .the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is ya detailed View of .the lattacl'iing elenient; land Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating `theas- -sembly of v the -fattaching element to the crown .material :and 'disclosing by comparison some -of the principles involved fin :the invention.

in order to provide .a suitable shock-.proof helmet, :it is necessary to make thehelmet of a material fwhich-vvillrresist blows causedby falling object-s, and ordinarily .the material -is of some `plastic material such as a cellulose derivative lfor .a 'phenolic resin, vor it may be made of some suitable metal rmaterial. Anivievv of these materials used andthe extent of shocks 'Whichmay belenccuntered, it is -inecessary :to provide some appropriate means of attachment of 'a ysuitable headband to .the rigid crown. .The `most 4suitalel'emeans:usedheretofore is a heavy cord which is :threaded through additional viiiorous strips attached to v'the .headband and :through the headgear .and byrtigh'tly drawing the cord, theheadband and headgearare fattached `in `supporting felation.

lin this invention, the helme't :.l composed ofla headband 2 -which ordinarily `includes 'a cradle or Iharness .3 iis connected 'to the crown lportion 6 `@if ytheshock-.proof iheadgear :l yby vva means which in .itself .is 'resilient and provides some shock absorption in transferring the effect of a shock 4or blow Aapplied -to the `rrigid crown, `to the headband and attached cradle. VIt is apparent that the means provided can fbe-aixed initially either lto therigidmaterial of thecrown or-to the headband, but it is preierred that the-attaching element be attached to the headband and then assembled `to the rigid crown.

'The attaching 'elements r5 are spaced circum- `feren'tia'llyvvithinthe crown 6 of the headgear to `provide'th'e necessary support properly distributed and eiecting .a desirable ,positioning of the safety helmet when worn. Each element iis composed of a flat strip .l preferably made of a resilient material reinforced `by a Ifabric. Integral with the 'strip'is a'pairof headed or .tabrnernbers .3 which .contain a head portion '9 and a `shank portion iii. -It is .obvious that .the number of members nsed in .each element ..5 is a matter of .practical expediency and the .numberselected will .depend upon .the conditions to be encountered. These members rare Imade `of some suitably resilient material and are reinforced with siornesuitable fabric .or cord material, and it .has been found that to lprovide some lmeans =of insertion yo1 the headed members, it is advisable to :employ an extended portion l! (Fig. 3) which .is :made integral vwith the head portion S and which may fbe 'readily yseparated .therefrom Iafter'the 'headed members are assembled to the crown portion of the headgear.

It is a feature of this invention to so construct the means of attachment employed that a headband is somewhat rigidly connected to the crown and possesses some yieldability so as to provide a limited shock absorption medium and without resulting in any damaging effect to the means.

o do this, the headed members of each element are constructed so that the shank portion I!! is of a length less than the thickness of the material of the crown 6. Also, the head portion 9 is constructed so as to provide an ample engaging surface 9a with the abutting surface of the crown and be suciently compressible so as to be readily insertable vthrough an aperture or opening provided in the crown. This feature is important since it makes it possible to insert and fasten the headed members tightly onto the crown and thus attach the flat strip 1 in a desirable fashion onto the crown surface and provide a satisfactory yieldable attachment of the essential parts of the safety headgear which produces improved shock-proof results.

Fig. 3 illustrates the element in an unassembled position and by comparison with Fig. 4, it isapparent that the shank portion is placed in a state of stress when the tab members 8 are assembledv to the crown because of the stretch -necessary in passing the head portion 9 completely through the aperture l2 so' that the abutting surface 9a properly engages the corresponding surface of the crown.

In the assembly of the headband to the headgear, the elements are attached to the headband 3 as by sewing or stapling the fiat strip 'l of 'each element to the headband, and then upon insertion of the headband carrying the plurality of properly circumferentially spaced elements 5 within the crown, the headed members'can be readily inserted through the apertures I2 -properly spaced in accordance with the spacing of the elements 5 and the spacing of headed member 8 on each flat strip 1 and by use of the extensions H the headed member can be readily pulled through the apertures and placed in proper engaging position. After the headed members are all inserted in their proper apertures, the extended portions Igl can be readily clipped from the head portion and the assembly of the headband to the crown is complete.

Because of the nature of the assembling means used in attaching the elements of the hat I and the result produced inthe elements and because vofthe material used in the manufacture of the individual elements, some of the shock ordinarily transferred to the headband and harness resulting from a shock or blow applied to the crown is absorbed. This is distinctly advantageous in view of the purpose of the helmet. because of the nature of the material, it readily resumes its normal state after distortion and can be made of moisture resistant material without ailiecting the other advantages gained by the use of the invention. `This factor of moisture resistance is of much importance since deterioration of the attaching element may go unnoticed and may result in grave injury to the wearer.

It is apparent that other modications can be made of this invention and the embodiment discloses the principles involved, and it is intended that the scope of the `invention be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A protective head gear comprising, a crown= Furthermore,`

member, a headband member, one of the members having a means to secure the headband to the crown including a headed resilient means attached to one of the members and inserted through an aperture in the other member and engaging a surface thereof,

2. A protective head gear including a blow resistant crown member, a headband member, and one of the members having an attaching means to secure the headband member to the crown member comprising a means attached to one of the members and inserted through an aperture in the other member, the means having a resilient head portion engaging a surface of the apertured member to retain the members in an assembled position, and a resilient shank portion adjacent the head portion and of a length less than the thickness of the apertured member to place the means in a stressed condition when the members are assembled.

3. A protective head gear including a crown member, a headband member, and an attaching means to resiliently secure the headband member to the crown member and comprising a resilient tab member having a base portion attached to one of the members and having a compressible headed portion passable through an aperture in the other member and engaging a surface thereof after passage through the aperture anda shank portion spacing the head portion from the base portion and of a length normally less than the thickness of the apertured member to tightly assemble the members.

4. A protective head gear including a crown member, a headband member, and characterized by a means to resiliently and tightly secure the headband member to the crown member comprising a flat base strip attached to one member, resilient tab means integral with the strip and composed of a compressible head portion passable through an aperture provided in one of the members and engaging a surface thereof to retain the assembly and a resilient shank portion spacing the head portion from the base strip and of a length less than the thickness of the apertured member to elongate the shank portion and tightly connect the members together.

5. A protective head gear comprising a blow resistant crown, a headband comprising a head engaging member, inner circumferentially spaced members to yieldably and tightly connect the head engaging member and the crown, each spaced member having an outwardly extending resilient engageable means and attachedto the headband, the engageable means having a head portion compressible to pass through an opening in the crown and to abut a surface of the crown after passage through the opening and attach the engageable means to the crown, and having a shank portion normally of a length less than the thickness of the crown to elongate the shank portion and tightly attach the headband to the crown.

6. A protective head gear comprising a blow resistant crown, a headband and an engageable means connecting the headband to the crown and comprising a at resilient base member attached to the headband and having an outwardly extending resilient tab means integral with the base strip, the tab means having a head portion and a shank portion intermediate the b-ase strip and the head portion, the head portion being of a size capable of being compressed to pass through an opening in the crown and normally having a size greater than the opening to engage the outer surface of the crown member and the shank portion being of a normal length less than the thickness of the crown to place the engageable means in stress when assembled to provide a resilient tight assembly of the headband to the crown.

7. A protective head gear including a blow resistant crown, a headband, and characterized by a plurality of attaching means spaced from each other and xed to the headband to resiliently and tightly secure the headband to the crown and each comprising a at resilient reinforced base strip carrying a crown engaging means composed of a pair of tab means integral with the opening in the crown.

GEORGE H. DEIKE, JR. 

